CPUSA

During World War II, Elaine Black Yoneda, the daughter of Russian Jewish immigrants, spent eight months in a concentration camp—not in Europe, but in California. She did this voluntarily and in solidarity, insisting on accompanying her husband, Karl, and their son, Tommy, when they were incarcerated at the Manzanar Relocation Center. Surprisingly, while in the camp, Elaine and Karl publicly supported the United States’ decision to exclude Japanese Americans from the coast.

Elaine Black Yoneda is the first critical biography of this pioneering feminist and activist. Rachel Schreiber deftly traces Yoneda’s life as she became invested in radical politics and interracial and interethnic activism. In her work for the International Labor Defense of the Communist Party, Yoneda rose to the rank of vice president. After their incarceration, Elaine and Karl became active in the campaigns to designate Manzanar a federally recognized memorial site, for redress and reparations to Japanese Americans, and in opposition to nuclear weapons.

Schreiber illuminates the ways Yoneda’s work challenged dominant discourses and how she reconciled the contradictory political and social forces that shaped both her life and her family’s. Highlighting the dangers of anti-immigrant and anti-Asian xenophobia, Elaine Black Yoneda recounts an extraordinary life.

Öz: Sabiha Sertel 1937’deki Amerika ziyaretinde Amerikan işçi hareketi üzerine bir yazı kaleme alır. Bu yazıda Yardım Kanunu’ndan, Amerikan Emek Federasyonu’ndan (AFL), Sanayi Örgütleri Komitesi’nden (CIO) söz eder ve bu örgütleri okuyucuya tanıtır. Akabinde Amerikan Sosyalist Partisi (SPA) ve Amerikan Komünist Partisi’ni de (CPUSA) yazısına
konu edinir. Komünist Parti’nin “birleşik cephe” siyasetini destekler. Bu yönleriyle Sabiha Sertel’in yazısı Komintern’in resmi siyasetiyle de uyumludur.

Abstract: During her visit to the USA in 1937, Sabiha Sertel writes an article on American labor movement. In this article, she mentions the Social Security Act, the American Federation of Labor (AFL), and the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), and introduces these organizations to the reader. Subsequently, she addresses the Socialist Party of America (SPA) and the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) in her article. She supports the “united front” policy of the Comintern. In these regards, Sabiha Sertel’s article is compatible with the official politics of the Comintern.

L'articolo analizza il legame di Woody Guthrie con il socialismo, suggerendo che l'adesione a tale ideologia sia dovuta in parte all'influenza esercitata dagli IWW e in parte perché riteneva il Partito Comunista e i sindacati i migliori strumenti per migliorare la condizione dei lavoratori.